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In Natural Capitalism, three top strategists show how leading-edge companies are practicing "a new type of industrialism" that is more efficient and profitable while saving the environment and creating jobs. Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins write that in the next century, cars will get 200 miles per gallon without compromising safety and power, manufacturers will relentlessly recycle their products, and the world's standard of living will jump without further damaging natural resources. "Is this the vision of a utopia? In fact, the changes described here could come about in the decades to come as the result of economic and technological trends already in place," the authors write.
They call their approach natural capitalism because it's based on the principle that business can be good for the environment. For instance, Interface of Atlanta doubled revenues and employment and tripled profits by creating an environmentally friendly system of recycling floor coverings for businesses. The authors also describe how the next generation of cars is closer than we might think. Manufacturers are already perfecting vehicles that are ultralight, aerodynamic, and fueled by hybrid gas-electric systems. If natural capitalism continues to blossom, so much money and resources will be saved that societies will be able to focus on issues such as housing, contend Hawken, author of a book and PBS series called Growing a Business, and the Lovinses, who cofounded and directed the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think tank. The book is a fascinating and provocative read for public-policy makers, as well as environmentalists and capitalists alike. --Dan Ring
Book Description
In Natural Capitalism, three top strategists show how leading-edge companies are practicing "a new type of industrialism" that is more efficient and profitable while saving the environment and creating jobs. Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins write that in the next century, cars will get 200 miles per gallon without compromising safety and power, manufacturers will relentlessly recycle their products, and the world's standard of living will jump without further damaging natural resources. "Is this the vision of a utopia?In fact, the changes described here could come about in the decades to come as the result of economic and technological trends already in place," the authors write.They call their approach natural capitalism because it's based on the principle that business can be good for the environment. For instance, Interface of Atlanta doubled revenues and employment and tripled profits by creating an environmentally friendly system of recycling floor coverings for businesses. The authors also describe how the next generation of cars is closer than we might think. Manufacturers are already perfecting vehicles that are ultralight, aerodynamic, and fueled by hybrid gas-electric systems. If natural capitalism continues to blossom, so much money and resources will be saved that societies will be able to focus on issues such as housing, contend Hawken, author of a book and PBS series called Growing a Business, and the Lovinses, who cofounded and directed the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think tank. The book is a fascinating and provocative read for public-policy makers, as well as environmentalists and capitalists alike. --Dan Ring
Customer Reviews:
Great for Green Building..........2007-10-05
this is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about sustainable building practices and how they can affect your bottom line. I recommend it for architects, designers and developers alike.
Excellent environmental analysis, clear direction!.......2007-10-04
This book provides a wealth of environmental analysis, including well-considered advice for policymakers at every level (from federal down to county). Also there is solid information for residential/condominium owners. The section that describes and designs how low-end residential units can sell energy back to the grid and raise their standard of living was exceptionally well-written. I am still reading the rest of the book and have not stopped since I first picked it up.
Great solutions to in-depth problems.......2007-09-30
I've only read the first two chapters, but its very motivating. The authors creatively give solutions to the environmental problems of the world. They fully understand the problems at hand, analyze them completely and give valuable ideas for probably and realistic solutions.
A more complete view of the economy.......2007-09-19
This book shows how our current view of the environment is flawed. It brings us from viewing the environment as something too vast to be harmed, to understanding that technology has given humanity the ability to profoundly affect the environment. The book presents a good argument as to why we need to see nature as part of the economic cycle and factor its use into how we use and manage the earth's resources.
A better way of living.......2007-09-11
This book is a little old so some of the infomation is out dated, but the ideas are still radically new for many people. There is a lot to be take from this book on both the micro and macro models, all of which are about creating greater efficiancy in the markets, and lowering the cost to consumers, all the while creating new jobs and reducing pollution. The book tells people how to help reduce their energy costs through simple changes in everday living. It also goes into great detail about market failures, government failures, and the compounding problem of global warming. This book is about the facts no ideological stance, with the authors saying that fossil fuel use is not going to go away anytime soon, but fossil fuels are only one small part of the entire picture. You will not be bored while reading this book, and should be mad after learning how much more money we are spending on goods of lesser quality.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introduction to EE concepts.......2006-01-21
Tietenberg is a big player in evironmental economics, and clearly lays out the fundamentals of environmental and natural resources economics accessible to those without significant economics training.
Out of Date.......2004-04-28
The book is hopelessly out of date. Although it carries a 2003 publication date, it still refers to the USSR and Czechoslovakia in the present tense. It consistently refers to studies done in the 1980s as recent and less than 25% of the examples, charts. etc. use data from 1990 or later. For example, only 5 out of 37 references in the chapter on Economic Justice are more recent than 1990, and the most recent is 1994. This is typical of just about every chapter. One gets the feeling that the publisher never reviewed this revided edition.
Good for Graduate School.......2001-06-06
I used this book for graduate school. Its a textbook and little more. But, it is a well written textbook.
good.......1999-03-15
goo
Book Description
Global warming is the story of the twenty-first century. It is the most serious issue facing the future of humankind, and American energy and environmental policy is driving the whole world down the path of global catastrophe. Hell and High Water is nothing less than a wake-up call to the country. It is a searing critique of American environmental and energy policy and a passionate call to action by a writer with a unique command of the science and politics of climate change.
We have ten years, at most, to start making sharp cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions or we will face catastrophic consequences. The good news is that there is something we can do—but only if the leadership of the U.S. government acts immediately and asserts its influence on the rest of the world—in particular such emerging powers as China and India—to join an international effort to stop global warming.
Joseph Romm, an expert in the science, business, and politics of climate change, lays out a plan of action that involves:
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by midcentury
- adopting a California-style energy-efficiency effort nationwide
- embracing high-mileage, advanced "hybrid" cars that can run on both electricity and biofuels
Unfortunately, the required government policies and spending are strongly opposed by conservatives, who have blocked serious action on climate change and continue to publicly deny the dire warnings of scientists. Never before has there been such a sharp divergence between what top scientists know and what policymakers, the general public, and the media believe. And, sadly, never has so much been at stake.
Romm, who ran the largest program in the world that was concentrated on climate solutions, offers an authoritative dissection of this disastrous policy. Hell and High Water goes beyond ideological rhetoric to offer pragmatic solutions to avert the threat of global warming—solutions that must be taken seriously by every American.
Customer Reviews:
Alarming--because it's factual.......2007-08-17
As an environmental policy grad student, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what we're in for with climate change. But after reading this book I've realized that, oh no, it's worse than I thought. The book starts out by describing the nasty potential futures facing us if we fail to take sufficient action, and soon. This bit comes across as somewhat sensational, but Romm quickly moves in a very well done review of the scientific literature backing up the scary part. The account of the unified effort to deny the validity of climate change and delay action is also well executed.
Highly recommended for anyone who needs a little motivation to start caring about climate change!
Wake Up Call.......2007-06-10
It's time to wake up to what's going on with our world and what we're doing to it. As a long time participant in the petroleum and related industries worldwide it has long been evident that we are exhausting the world's resources at an unsustainable rate detrimental to life as we know it and to a livable environment. Damon A. Peteron
Great informative book.......2007-05-19
If you want the facts about global warming and what we need to do about it straight from the experts' mouths, this is the book for you. It covers everything about global warming from the media's bias to the various policies we need to implement to avoid catastrophic climate change, to the consequences if we fail to avoid it. Absolutely fantastic book.
Highly recommended.......2007-05-10
I thought this book was really interesting in explaining the US politics behind global warming and the what has not been done in recent years by the US to curb global warming. It goes into great detail about the issues the planet faces if we do not reduce our CO2 output into the atmosphere.
Good advice rarely is heeded...........2007-05-04
Romm brings quite a bit of expertise and gravitas to his arguments. Arguably in the know about government policy practices Romm lays out both a convincing scenario about global climate modification (see no GW balderdash!)and a set of coherent policy solutions to prevent the worst of the problem. Unfortunately, I agree that while a solution is "doable" it won't get done. Goodbye Florida, goodbye Louisiana!
Book Description
This volume provides a uniquely rich set of arguments and data for prioritizing our responses to some of the most serious problems facing the world today, such as climate change, communicable diseases, conflicts, education, financial instability, corruption, migration, malnutrition and hunger, trade barriers, and water access. Leading economists evaluate the evidence for costs and benefits of various programs to help gauge how we can achieve the most good with our money. Each problem is introduced by a world-renowned expert analyzing the scale of the problem and describing the costs and benefits of a range of policy options to improve the situation. Shorter pieces from experts offering alternative positions are also included; all ten challenges are evaluated by a panel of economists from North America, Europe, and China who rank the most promising policy options. Global Crises, Global Solutions provides a serious, yet accessible, springboard for debate and discussion and will be required reading for government employees, NGOs, scholars and students of public policy and applied economics, and anyone with a serious professional or personal interest in global development issues. Bjørn Lomborg is Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Aarhus and the director of the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute. He is also the author of the controversial bestseller, The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge, 2001).
Customer Reviews:
Bjorn Lomborg: GlobalCrises, Glbal Solutions.......2007-05-07
This book appears at the first look about economy. It is not. Its starting premise is the question: if you have limited resources and have to prioritize, what would you do in our global warming situation. It is a hard
headed treatment of the subject matter by a multitude of subject experts. Their complete set of policy proposals then evaluated by eight of the world top economists.
It is interesting, how fast the discussion veers off after discussing the economics into the very conditions enabling or blocking the desirable economic developments, such as conflicts, communicable diseases, sanitation and trade barriers just to mention a few.
The book can be read on two different level.For casual reader and policy maker most the numbers are avoidable and still be a very readable and very thoughtful and interesting material. For those, who want hard numbers and hard details, that is provided too, but not necessary for understanding.
This is the multicolored, multifaceted work of many dedicated individuals who - by the work they are dedicated to perform - are forced to set priorities in expending limited resources. I was surprised by their reasoning, and I trust, so will you be.
if you care about the world.......2007-03-08
why arn't global politics based on these arguments? it's a pleasure to read the scientific arguments that lomborg uses to validate his claims. it's a shame that we cannot organise the solutions to make this world a better place for a lot of people at no expense to our own prosperity. all the hard (econometrical) stuff is almost easy to read.
next year i'll read it again and see how far we are...
Raising the Level of Debate About Global Problems.......2006-08-09
Most people never think about the unavoidable tradeoffs involved in ameliorating social problems. With opportunity costs in mind, may we must dedicate ourselves to a better world.
I have two respectful criticisms:
1. If people focused only on the problems that we could do most to solve then that would reduce the pressure to solve problems. However rational it might seem to shift all foreign aid from funding education to funding AIDS prevention, the result would probably be less total aid. The way politics works, one big problem is sometimes treated less seriously than two problems that are half as big.
2. It is difficult to quantify any of these problems, but some of them, like global warming, are much harder to quantify. The "worst case scenario," unlikely as it may be, has the potential to do such incredible damage, that we need to act on it. Reducing global warming might be conceived of as an insurance policy, whereas preventing AIDS is more likely an investment in mutual funds.
Global Crises, Global Solutions.......2006-07-20
I enjoyed Bjorn Lomborg's latest work as a thought provoking alternative to conventional wisdom on different aspects of globalisation. Unfortunately, much of the scientific and political community have become prisoners to theories which have dubious merit. They are followed more out of political correctness and the prevailing winds of public opinion, than research and testing.
By including other experts who provide alternative opinions and challenge each other, Lomborg has followed the true spirit of scientific method - development of a theory and testing it through falsification. It is a shame that some purported scientists have tried to silence him in a similar way to Galileo. Poor science leads to inadequate policy.
The book is a worthy successor to the Environmental Sceptic and reflects a growing concern in the scientific community about the need for more rigorous research and debate on key issues. It's content is well laid out.
Clearly, the amount of material is not designed for reading in one session. However, it is a valuable resource book suited to those interested in entering into the debate on key global issues. You can pick an individual topic and obtain a good grounding in it.
I look forward to Bjorn Lomborg's next offering.
Highly Recommended!.......2005-07-27
This report is an excellent, controversial and refreshing approach to global problems. Daily, the news media and politicians declare that another crisis is urgent. Often, loud, public resolutions accompany these pronouncements. Political blocs form to push through agendas based on those resolutions. The only thing missing from the process is a dispassionate analysis of whether the solutions make economic sense and, if so, which ones make the most economic sense. This book of compiled essays from the Copenhagen Consensus - as documented in The Economist - provides that missing element. The conference drew from United Nations documents to assemble a list of the most urgent problems facing the world and identified those that presented opportunities for solutions. Then it set the task of identifying solutions that would provide the biggest benefit for the cost, examining 38 proposals for spending $50 billion over four years. Surprisingly, some of the most economically rational projects never make headlines and never turn up in public exhortations. When was the last time you saw someone climbing onto a platform to demand mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa? That may not come up nearly as often as adherence to the Kyoto Protocol, which provides a far weaker cost vs. benefit scenario. According to the analysts from Copenhagen, the former seems to be a very sound use of the world's problem-solving resources, but the latter costs a lot and seems to deliver relatively few benefits. We highly recommend this intriguing, sweeping conversation.
Book Description
In this new edition, Lester Brown outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty-first civilization.
The world faces numerous environmental trends of disruption and decline such as rising temperatures, falling water tables, shrinking forests, melting glaciers, collapsing fisheries, and rising sea levels. In Plan B, Lester R. Brown notes that in ignoring nature's deadlines for dealing with these environmental issues we risk the disruption of economic progress.
In addition to these environmental trends, the world faces the peaking of oil, the addition of 70 million people per year, a widening global economic divide, and the spread of international terrorism. The global scale and growing complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent.
Customer Reviews:
Best Yet.......2007-09-20
Plan B. 2.0 is the most comprehensive book I've found yet on the converging crises that we are facing in the world today. In Part I of the book, Lester R. Brown lays out each crisis, explaining the causes, and then goes on in Parts II and III, lays out a rational, well-thought-out,practical solution to the problems at hand. I gave my husband a copy of it to use for part of the Critical Issues for Law Enforcement class he's teaching at our local university. As far as I'm concerned, every American ought to have a copy and read it often and thoroughly. We need to be aware of what we're doing to ourselves and others. The frosting on this cake is that he gives us the tools we need to remedy the situation...if we act now.
Essential reading for every human on this planet.......2007-09-19
If you care about this planet and our journey upon it, this book is essential reading for the millennium ahead. I just wanted to add my five stars. Please read the other reviews for the overview of "Plan B: 2.0"
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble.......2007-02-06
We do have prophets for our time. Lester Brown is one of the most important among them. In his well founded search for truth and solutions for our demographic, ecological and economic problems of global dimensions, he powerfully opposes the four faces of destructive stupidity of our times: ignorance, refusal to discuss matters, denial, and faithful dysfunctionality. I made this book the present day Bible that must be read and discussed in my course on Bioethics: Perspectives on Human Life, at Le Moyne College, Syracuse NY.
Dr. Andrew Szebenyi S.J.
Best Single Book for Both General Public and Broadly Read Specialists.......2007-01-26
It's a real shame that the publisher did not take the trouble to load the table of contents into the product information section provided by Amazon, because that alone should persuade anyone that gets to this page that the book is a MUST BUY MUST READ MUST SHARE.
Each of the following section titles has six sub-titles that I will not repeat here:
1. Entering a New World
2. Beyond the Oil Peak
3. Emerging Water Shortages
4. Rising Temperatures & Rising Seas
5. Natural Systems Under Stress
6. Early Signs of Decline
7. Eradicating Poverty, Stabilizing Populations
8. Restoring the Earth
9. Feeding Seven Billion Well
10. Stabilizing Climate
11. Designing Sustainable Cities
12. Building a New Economy
13. Plan B: Building a New Future.
Although an updated version of the first edition published in 2003, this version can be said to be both completely new, and finally ready for public consumption now that Al Gore has put Global Warming on the public mind.
I still prefer J. F. Rischard's HIGH NOON: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them for the general reader, and I still think E. O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" is one of the top three in this area, but this book by Lester Brown has the merit of consolidating and structuring detail in a manner I have not seen elsewhere.
I recommend the book be ready in conjunction with books by Herman Daly and Paul Hawken, in part because everyone is now starting to realize that green sustainability is in fact the non-negotiable first step for any business to survive into the next decade--natural capitalism.
Most intriguing to me, and the heart of the book on page 257, is the consolidated Plan B budget totallying $161 billion a year needed to meet all of the goals the author postulates.
BASIC SOCIAL GOALS
12B Universal primary education
04B Adult literacy
06B School lunch in 44 poorest countries
04B Assistant to pregnant women and preschool childen in 44 poorest
07B Reproductive health and family planning
33B Universal health care
02B Closing the condom gap (Bill & Melinda Gates can have this one)
EARTH RESTORATION GOALS
06B Reforesting the earth
24B Protecting topsoil on cropland
09B Restoring rangelands
10B Stabilizing water tables
13B Restoring fisheries
31B Protecting biological diversity
As the author points out on the next page, world military expenditures total $975B a year, with the US alone responsible for $492B (this was published before we all knew of the half trillion dollar cost of the Iraq invasion and occupation). Hence, the $161B a year total is a fraction of the total spent on out-dated military systems, and could be funded by the US alone if we had the right leadership and public consensus.
Personally, and based on other readings, I believe that the author is under-estimating the costs, and avoiding a focus on many other factors including the urgent need to eradicate transnational crime and end inter-state and civil war. This is, however, a superb start and ideally suited as a primer for any level of learning.
Readers interested in seeing a broader perspective that places the ten high-level threats (poverty, infectuous disease, environmental degradation, inter-state conflict, civil war, genocide, other atrocities, proliferation, terrorism and transnational crime) in the context of the twelve policies that must be managed as a whole by all nations (agriculture, debt, diplomacy, economy, education, energy, family, immigration, justice, security, society, and water), and that in turn oriented toward the urgency of keeping the eight challengers (Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Wild Cards) from repeating our mistakes, can check in at Earth Intelligence Network.
Rescuing are planet and our civilization is going to be a great deal harder than the author suggests, and is going to need a massive awakening by the public as to the "true cost" of all that we are doing wrong. I expect that we will succeed, in part from top down efforts by Al Gore and this author among others, and in part by bottom up efforts where individuals can get from the Internet the "true cost" of any good or service in terms of water content, fuel content, sweatshop labor content, and tax avoidance status. Noami Klein's book, "No Logo" is recommended in this regard.
Over-all an absolutely superb piece of work that caps the author's decades of advocacy on behalf of the planet. There is no other person that has been focused on this topic with due diligence year after year.
Wake Up America.......2007-01-14
Lester Brown has been monitoring the state of the world for many years and is probably one of the most knowledgeable and authoritative people on this topic. The first half of the book, filled with many little known but interesting and important facts lets us know how a declining resource base at a time of rapidly increasing human population is taking us toward a very unstable and potentially dangerous world. In the second half of the book he spells out what needs to be done worldwide and how it can be accomplished with about 1/3rd of our annual US Defense Dept. expenditures if we wake up to the facts and act immediately.
The book was so factual and encouraging that I bought a dozen to share with my congregation in the hope of spreading the facts, stimulating concern, and seeing some personal action.
Average customer rating:
- Thank goodness for a voice of reason
- Best book I have read in a long time
- Bjorn Lomborg is the Waylon Smithers of the corporate world
- The Real Deal
- A Fraud perpetrated on the Gullible
|
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
Bjorn Lomborg
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521010683 |
Book Description
Bjørn Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace, challenges widely held beliefs that the world environmental situation is getting worse and worse in his new book, The Skeptical Environmentalist. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues that feature prominently in headline news around the world, including pollution, biodiversity, fear of chemicals, and the greenhouse effect, and documents that the world has actually improved. He supports his arguments with over 2500 footnotes, allowing readers to check his sources. Lomborg criticizes the way many environmental organizations make selective and misleading use of scientific evidence and argues that we are making decisions about the use of our limited resources based on inaccurate or incomplete information. Concluding that there are more reasons for optimism than pessimism, he stresses the need for clear-headed prioritization of resources to tackle real, not imagined, problems. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan evaluation that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by campaign groups and the media. Bjørn Lomborg is an associate professor of statistics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus. When he started to investigate the statistics behind the current gloomy view of the environment, he was genuinely surprised. He published four lengthy articles in the leading Danish newspaper, including statistics documenting an ever-improving world, and unleashed the biggest post-war debate with more than 400 articles in all the major papers. Since then, Lomborg has been a frequent participant in the European debate on environmentalism on television, radio, and in newspapers.
Customer Reviews:
Thank goodness for a voice of reason.......2007-08-12
No one denies that there is warming. What *is* being disputed is what are the causes.
Fact: solar changes are far more significant than human causes.
Fact: there have always been changes in overall temperatures.
Fact: many of the temperature collection locations are ill-chosen (changes over time) and ill-maintained (many in Russia e.g.).
Fact: many of the suggested "fixes" for warming will do little for global temperatures, but will be catastrophic for the economy.
Best book I have read in a long time.......2007-08-08
Finally, a book that puts perspective and context to the environmental movement. Yes, we have problems and Yes, we have come a long way in the last century. It provides optimism that together we can solve tomorrow's environmental/quality of life problems. And does this with humor, population increases, quote: "it is not that we have begun breeding like rabbits, but that we are not dying off like flies" that is driving population increases, which should flatten around 12 billion by 2050 or so. And, is this sustainable, yes and no. Read the book.
Bjorn Lomborg is the Waylon Smithers of the corporate world.......2007-07-30
Paper not even worthy a cleaning up after Fido, Bjorn breaks out his best "Pollyanna" dress for Sunday brunch with this sunny side up rotten egg! Undigestable for real scientists, but bubble boys and zombies on a healthy diet of televised info-tainment will eat it up. Pure nonsense.
The Real Deal.......2007-05-19
I have always been deeply skeptical of any "study" or "survey" that does not include numbers and verifiable references. This is not the case in this book. It is well researched and you don't have to be a statistician to understand the graphs and references. Of course since it reflects my empirical world view quite closely (my husband asked if I had written it), I enjoyed it all the more. However, the chapter on global warming is not for the faint of heart. The U.N.'s plan for the way you and I should live scared the socks off me. As an antidote for your chills I suggest you Google "Little Climate Optimum".
A Fraud perpetrated on the Gullible.......2007-05-10
Bjorn Lomberg, a political scientist in Denmark, has become the darling of the anti-environmentalist movement with the claim that he started as an environmentalist, and has disproved their claims. He his book has been found by the Danish government's Committee on Scientific Dishonesty, to be "deemed to fall within the concept of scientific dishonesty. ...In view of the subjective requirements made in terms of intent or gross negligence, ... the publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice."
Lomberg was only aquitted on the grounds that he was not, as claimed, an environmentalist. His claim that he was involved in Greenpeace was later found also to be in error, as an examination of Greenpeace records never showed him to have ever been a member. He later claimed that he had at some time, donated money to the organisation.
The book it appears contains 111 outright errors and 208 flaws.
Book Description
Evaluating environmental policy while considering the lasting implications of today's environmental controversies for the future is no easy task, especially given the dramatic changes of the past couple years. Assessing new strategies prompted by the George W. Bush administration, Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft head a team of distinguished contributors to help students make sense of the underlying trends, institutional shortcomings, and policy dilemmas that shape the contentious world of environmental politics. Accessibly written, each chapter attempts to explain the most important developments in environmental politics in recent decades-at the local, state, national, and international levels-and at the same time points to new policy directions for the future. Environmental Policy is essential reading for students of public policy and for anyone who is interested in the current debate over reforming environmental policies and promoting sustainable development in the future.
Customer Reviews:
Newest in a classic series.......2000-09-06
This is the new edition of "Environmental Policy in the 1990s," a series now considered to be the most important in the field. This edition has some of the classic essays from earlier editions, but is expanded to cover the Clinton administration and address issues of a global nature.
I have been using this series as a basic text in graduate courses in environmental policy for years. I consider it to be a primary source of not only teaching, but research and basic information. All of the essays are clearly written and as unbiased as possible. I give this my highest recommendation.
(Addendum in 2007. This series is up to six editions with a seventh due out this summer. All are essential for the serious student of environmental policy and history).
Average customer rating:
- Confronting Overconsumption
- Best book in Global Environmental Affairs
- Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs
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Confronting Consumption
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Similar Items:
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ASIN: 0262661284 |
Book Description
Comforting terms such as "sustainable development" and "green production" frame environmental debate by stressing technology (not green enough), economic growth (not enough in the right places), and population (too large). Concern about consumption emerges, if at all, in benign ways--as calls for green purchasing or more recycling, or for small changes in production processes. Many academics, policymakers, and journalists, in fact, accept the economists’ view of consumption as nothing less than the purpose of the economy. Yet many people have a troubled, intuitive understanding that tinkering at the margins of production and purchasing will not put society on an ecologically and socially sustainable path.
Confronting Consumption places consumption at the center of debate by conceptualizing "the consumption problem" and documenting diverse efforts to confront it. In Part 1, the book frames consumption as a problem of political and ecological economy, emphasizing core concepts of individualization and commoditization. Part 2 develops the idea of distancing and examines transnational chains of consumption in the context of economic globalization. Part 3 describes citizen action through local currencies, home power, voluntary simplicity, âad-busting,â and product certification. Together, the chapters propose "cautious consuming" and "better producing" as an activist and policy response to environmental problems. The book concludes that confronting consumption must become a driving focus of contemporary environmental scholarship and activism.
Customer Reviews:
Confronting Overconsumption.......2005-06-04
Obviously you need to consume in order to survive and consume more in order to live comfortably. But in this country at least, it is almost impossible not to overconsume. Our president encourages us to spend more. Our vice president sneers that some "virtuous" people would have us conserve energy rather than use as much as we want to, at any cost. TV and other media bombard us with messages to eat more and buy more. Our financial advisors tell us to buy the biggest house we can afford. When was the last time anyone suggested saving money rather than "investing" it?
Confronting Consumption tackles the problem from several angles. I'm afraid the larger global arguments Princen and his fellow editors and academics make are lost on me when they write of "commoditization" and "conceptualizing the consumption problem." But in the final section they get down to ground level and talk about voluntary simplicity, Adbusters, and alternate methods of home power (off the grid).
An especially interesting observation appears in Michael Maniates's essay about the voluntary simplicity movement. He attended a voluntary simplicity day at a university. Thousands of people showed up, many more than the organizers expected. They wanted to know about cutting living expenses, downshifting, and job-sharing. They were not at all interested in the Sierra Club presentation or other "save the planet" groups. It isn't that people aspiring to live simply don't want to help save the planet. They just want to do it in a more manageable way, one person, one family at a time.
Unfortunately, that won't undo the ecological, financial, and human damage already caused by overconsumption. For that, we will need leaders who at the very least acknowledge that overconsumption is a problem, not a virtue.
Best book in Global Environmental Affairs.......2003-02-02
This award-winning book ("The Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs" according to the International Studies Association) offers an accessible and engaging analysis of the 800 pound gorilla in the living room that environmentalists find difficult to talk about with force: overconsumption. The early portion of the book documents the problem; the middle chunk offers a set of mental lenses for making sense of our quandry; and the final chapters offer real-life stories of actors and movements (the voluntary simplicity movement, for example, and the home power and local currency movements too) challenging the upward escalating trajectory of the consumption of "stuff."
What's especially helpful about the book -- in addition to its "something for everyone" flavor -- is that it moves beyond simplistic prescriptions to "squash advertising" or "buy recycled products." Indeed, it is rather skeptical of these measures, which it views as diversionary activities meant to take our eye off the underlying forces at war with the planet. Instead, it offers strategies for coming together collectively to challenge broader powers and structures that make it so difficult for people worried about the future of the planet to live more with less.
Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs.......2003-01-30
This award-winning book ("The Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs" according to the International Studies Association) offers an accessible and engaging analysis of the 800 pound gorilla in the living room that environmentalists find difficult to talk about with force: overconsumption. The early portion of the book documents the problem; the middle chunk offers a set of mental lenses for making sense of our quandry; and the final chapters offer real-life stories of actors and movements (the voluntary simplicity movement, for example, and the home power and local currency movements too) challenging the upward escalating trajectory of the consumption of "stuff."
What's especially helpful about the book -- in addition to its "something for everyone" flavor -- is that it moves beyond simplistic prescriptions to "squash advertising" or "buy recycled products." Indeed, it is rather skeptical of these measures, which it tends to view as diversionary activities meant to take our eye off the underlying forces at war with the planet. Instead, it offers strategies for coming together collectively to challenge broader powers and structures that make it so difficult for people worried about the future of the planet to live more with less.
Book Description
One of the world's most influential environmentalists reveals a worldwide grassroots movement of hope and humanity
Blessed Unrest tells the story of a worldwide movement that is largely unseen by politicians or the media. Hawken, an environmentalist and author, has spent more than a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person causes, these organizations collectively comprise the largest movement on earth. This is a movement that has no name, leader, or location, but is in every city, town, and culture. It is organizing from the bottom up and is emerging as an extraordinary and creative expression of people's needs worldwide.
Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of this movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and centuries-old history. The culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in these fields, it will inspire, surprise, and delight anyone who is worried about the direction the modern world is headed. Blessed Unrest is a description of humanity's collective genius and the unstoppable movement to re-imagine our relationship to the environment and one another. Like Hawken's previous books, Blessed Unrest will become a classic in its field— a touchstone for anyone concerned about our future.
Customer Reviews:
The Unconquered Underground.......2007-09-22
This book surely deserves its nearly universal praise, but I'm going to have to throw a wrench into the works by pointing out a few of its structural flaws. As a widely-read conservationist I can credit Paul Hawken as one of the best modern writers and thinkers on our movement, and his classic "Natural Capitalism" is my absolute all-time favorite from the genre. "Blessed Unrest" will surely be a groundbreaker and it could seriously be influential for millions of people for decades to come. But the proof is actually in the appendix (which takes up more than a third of the book), while the main text is faintly disappointing in a few structural ways. In a nutshell, the relatively short main text covers Hawken's research into the quietly rising social movement around the world of literally millions of small organizations that are combining environmentalism, civil rights, and social justice in ways that are revitalizing democracy, conservation, and the human spirit for volunteerism. Most importantly, this movement utilizes ideas and not ideologies, and is inclusive rather than exclusive.
This is a crucially important topic and Hawken is doing the world a great service by bringing this immense but little-respected mass movement into the light. However, only one chapter in the book's main text ("Immunity") and a few other passages really focus specifically on this great movement and how exemplary groups are creating real change. Instead, most of the main text functions as a lengthy introduction that accomplishes little more than a set-up for the appendix. Hawken fills these pages with a fairly standard history of the environmental movement and the latest developments in conservationist philosophy. Of course this material is informative and necessary, but similar information can be found in myriad other books, and here it becomes quite predictable and detracts from the specifics of the unique worldwide movement that this book is supposed to be about. Thus the book becomes a bit of a disappointment for those who have been attracted by its promotional materials, which promise coverage of the movement itself, not its less specific historical underpinnings.
With that being said, the book is saved by the immense appendix, which is built from the crucial and valuable database of small worldwide organizations at the WiserEarth website. Here we can see the movement in full flower, with a useful categorization of volunteer efforts into a mindboggling array of topics that combine conservation of the Earth's gifts and justice for humanity. This book will be vastly influential merely for drawing attention to this outstanding online resource. Overall, Hawken remains at the top of the heap for influential and inspirational conservationist writers, but just beware of this book's structural limitations. [~doomsdayer520~]
A thought provoking and revealing book, an absolute masterpiece by a genuis.......2007-09-14
After many years of reading, one book stands out, this is it, this is one of the best books that I have ever read, it reveals many truths not found in regular books, like where we are heading as human beings, and about how we are destroying the environment and upsetting the fragile ecological balance of mother earth etc. I've been book marking many pages and am amazed by the wisdom and inspiration of this book.
It mentions how civilizations, species, indigenous people and cultures are being destroyed by greed and materialism, by most of us, it talks about Columbus and colonialism and how it has destroyed entire cultures and civilizations, quote "Native people have remarked that, of the many promises made by white men, the only one that they kept was the vow to take their land"
Most popular books available today are about "How to succeed", "How to make more money" "How to open a franchise" " "How to market", "How to get an MBA" etc, there are very few books on morality, wisdom, truth, divinity, modesty, humbleness, respect, protection of the environment, protection of animals etc.
It reminds us that from our very first day at school, through high school and college, we are mostly taught about making money and materialism, getting and spending etc, we have thus become modern day slaves to banks and the wealthy in the form of mounting debt, we are debt ridden all our lives and it takes a lifetime to pay off this debt, part of the ultimate consumer society.
Today, markets and currencies are manipulated by wealthy nations, and poorer nations are at the mercy of industrialized nations, sadly poorer countries are exploited by trading their minerals, diamonds, gold, raw materials, forests etc. by wealthier nations and are paid for in kind by weapons and armaments, which are then used for committing genocide on their own people while wealthy nations enjoy all the material comforts and luxurious life at the expense of the poor.
Hawkens mentions that businesses talk about adding value and making higher profits to satisfy shareholders, but at what price, profit without consequence is what they are practicing, they do not think about the destruction to the environment and natural resources, the practice of a 'profits at any cost' will lead to a scorched earth, which threatens our very existence on planet earth.
Globalization only benefits wealthy and highly industrialized nations, it results in exploitation of resources in poorer nations, destroying their cultures, natural resources and the environment so that more profits can be made by the wealthy, i.e. profits without shame, the best example is China, which has the worst human right's record and worker abuses bordering on slavery, only a handful of wealthy Chinese folks and the Communist Party are benefiting from it, what a pity. Globalization is the modern day equivalent of imperialism and colonization, sadly the rich get richer and the poor suffer.
Paul Hawkens is a true visionary and a genius, this book has many spiritual insights. it should become a prescribed text book in high schools and colleges around the world.
Bharat V. P.
Ohio (Lenasia, SA)
A RAY OF HOPE IN THIS PROFIT-BEFORE -PEOPLE WORLD.......2007-09-13
I have just read and am happy to recommend Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. " Blessed Unrest" is that restlessness and energy that humans of conscience and good will experience when they encounter such evils as injustice, poverty, and wanton damage to the environment.
Author Paul Hawken posits a worldwide coalescing (aided by the World Wide Web) of over a million grass-roots organizations, non-government organizations, relief agencies, and a few enlightened persons and organizations of wealth and influence (e.g., Warren Buffett, the Omidyar Network), each with its special focus, but all sharing a vision of a healed and equitable earth. He likens this unrest to the body's little understood but marvelously effective immune system
This book is partly about profits-before-people social injustice, and climate change, and it cites at length the many shocking global injustices and environmental catastrophes caused by governments (including ours), transnational corporations, the military, and so on. Although you may know of some such instances, Hawken details many examples you may not have known before, concerning Bechtel, The IMF, Exxon-Mobile and Conoco, the World Bank, The WTO, and many others. For example. he describes at length how the massive peaceful demonstrations at WTO's Third Ministerial in Seattle in 1999 were turned into "riots" by over-reactive police and sensationalist reporting by the media.
Another example: The World Bank forced Bolivia (the 5th poorest nation in the world) to privatize a water system to a company partially owned by multinational corporation Bechtel, resulting in water rates to Bolivia's poor becoming higher than for wealthy Bechtel executives living near San Francisco
Hawken holds up two bright red flags regarding our future. In 2005, the Millenium Ecoystem Assessment report, a consensus representing over 1,000 international scientists, concluded that the earth is rapidly losing its ability to support life as we know it due to pollution and environmental degradation and could soon enter a precipitous decline. The second red flag is the separate and rapidly increasing threat of climate change, a human-caused phenomenon recently emphasized in the media. His conclusion is that in order to preserve and heal the earth, and its climate, we must simultaneously address and heal social injustices, including of poverty, ignorance, biases of race, religion, nationality, and culture.
You may read other reviews of this book by Googling the author and title. Hawken is also the author of Natural Capitalism, which former President Clinton has named one of the five most important books in the world today. In its exposition of the world-wide "underground" massing of forces of social change, Blessed Unrest is the only recent book of this kind I have read that gives me a shred of hope for the future.
One caution: as you read, have a good dictionary at your side, unless such words as eutrophication and fungible are part of your daily word bank. For sure, Hawken has not written Blessed Unrest for Dummies. But please consider reading this book; it is informative, hopeful, and important.
Important Book.......2007-09-08
Extremely well-written, insightful, brilliant analysis of what we're all doing to our planet. Grim, yet optimistic.
Hello AMAZON?.......2007-09-07
Yes, I hope someone at Amazon reads this. It is completely inappropriate to list a book review, regardless of who wrote it- in this case Publisher's weekly, decided what is relevant in a book or not. I am specifically directly you to revisit the comment that this book's views on the WTO are naive.
It is naive for a book critic to assume that they have the power to make such a judgement regardless of whether or not they agree with Hawken, their jobs are not to sublimely try to shape the thoughts of potential readers.
In my own opinion, I found this book highly relevant and poignant to many of the world's most pressing issues even in Hawken did leave out some major points. He does deeply criticize the WTO, and it is largely up to readers to truly understand why and find specific examples.
However, it is totally inappropriate to post a book review that places such a judgement on his views without letting the reader decide for himself or herself. That is not the role of a book critic- they should stick to their job description which is to present the facts of a book, not judge it. Please remove that criticism and find another. It's offensive.
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